T'was a spring that didn't ring true !
Skies were clear, azure blue
Forests wore a flaming crown of Palaash vermilion
Daffodils were in golden trumpeted bloom
But the vernal air a deathly taint- a killer virus in its womb
That in waves after waves wrought gloom and doom
T'was a spring with no zing, only a deathly sting !
Sucking out breath ;kins gasping, grieving, ceaselessly lamenting
Frantically seeking oxygen anywhere, everywhere
In hospitals, black markets, under the peepal tree
Many would get it within the doors of Heaven, free
A tragedy to up all tragedies one hopes never to see.
Twas a spring when dead were summarily disposed !
Upstream, the mela sullied Ganga, the river most revered
Downstream, defiled by hundreds of floating corpses
Thousands the sandy bosoms of its flanks concealed .
Bodies with souls trishanku, unliberated
An indefinite wait for funeral rites to be completed.
T'was a spring India focused on Bengal !
Netas criss-crossed, volubly orated, freely fulminated to hold crowds in thrall
For a hundred days India was Bengal
The political choir played, replayed 'Dee Dee O Dee'
The virus left scot free to enact its deathly tandav spree
Bengal voted but in the final analysis t'was a VIRUS victory !
T'was a spring with no spring !
Bureaucracy too stodgy and wooden
Its strides frozen and arms in sling,
There was only hope to cling.
Netas too 'mamta' possessed to think
Beyond the vote swing.
Twas a spring unfit to dwell upon !
Think 'positivity unlimited' from here on
Bad times pass and life moves on, the 'wise' counselled
Positivity ? He who was living is now dead
We who were living are as good as dead
Said those, who lost kins for lack of oxygen, hospital bed.
Twas a spring sans threat of a Hazare fast !
Many he issued for causes noble in the past
Did he think the virus too ignoble
Not deserving of a token verbal blast ?
T'was a spring when being mute was safe !
Desperate cries for help deemed offense
And exposing malfunction a sedition invite
The virus chuckled, deeper went its bite
Pray country folk
Time doesn't yoke
An evil spring
With breathly choke
